On November 20th, 2009, more than 150 people portraying themselves as Christian leaders ofOrthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical backgrounds declared their unity because of moral issues.The signers who are uniting themselves together in the Mahattan Declaration (MD) identifythemselves under the signed statement,1 "We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christianswho have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the commongood...."

The Website of MD states that the purpose of the document is "simply to speak withone voice on the most pressing moral issues of our day...[MD is] simply a statement of solidarityabout only the social issues it addresses." 2 And the document itself may not appear to have anyobjective other than quoted.

However, under the Website section entitled, "Message to all signers of the Manhattan Declaration," the clearly stated purpose is a call for a political movement. This shows that, in fact, the Manhattan Declaration is only the latest step in the downgrade into implementing Catholic social doctrine.

There is yet another purpose; one primarily stated in Vatican Council II and post-Vatican Council II documents. Through the use of social issues, the Roman Catholic Church seeks to draw true Evangelical Bible-believers into itself so that there can be no opposition by them on the fundamental issues of the authority of the Bible alone and the Gospel.

In order to soften up the Evangelicals in their separation from the Catholics on biblicaldoctrinal issues, particularly the authority of the Bible alone and the Gospel, the Catholic modusoperandi calls for using social issues on which both Evangelicals and Catholics agree aspreliminary common ground. The major social issues selected by MD are acceptable, but whatgives away the underlying Catholic far left political agenda is some of the vocabulary used. Thisvocabulary has a general meaning, to be sure, but in the context of Roman Catholic socialdoctrine, it means something quite specific.

As Evangelicals are drawn together with Catholics on social issues - like the social issues mentioned in this document - the ensuing ecumenical dialogue "serves to transform modes of thought and behavior and the daily life of their [Evangelical] communities [churches]. In this way, it [ecumenical dialogue] aims at preparing the way for their unity of faith in the bosom of a Church one and visible: thus ‘little by little'...all Christians will be gathered" 3 into the Roman Catholic Church with its dual authority base, false gospel, and accompanying far left agenda. The Roman Catholic Church's primary goal is to make enforceable its claim that it is the only true church of Jesus Christ and its pope, the claimed "Vicar of Christ," has the right to judge everybody, as he did during the Middle Ages. In order to accomplish this, the Papacy must do away with the supreme authority of theBible and the Gospel and it must silence all who stand against it in this endeavor. This is theRoman Catholic context in which the Manhattan Declaration is set.